An Azure Phantom and a Black Rose
by Gaius Vergilius Severus
Summary: The Earth Alliance sends a newly minted mobile suit ace to ZAFT's Carpentaria base to steal a CGUE DEEP Arms. However who he meets there causes him to question his allegiance.


Cosmic Era 71

"You called for me sir?"

"Yes I did lieutenant…You're aware of the ZAFT theft of four of our experimental GAT-X mobile suits correct?"

"Yes sir I have, and to be honest I'm a bit concerned about the situation…"

"I wouldn't worry about it, the Strike is still in our possession and we have the new GAT-X suits in development as well as our new Strike Dagger units."

"Hmm… but still sir, our Strike Daggers aren't even past the evaluation stage, we're still doing field testing."

"As I said, don't worry about it, besides, the Daggers are only one step away from full production. Lieutenant I called you in here because you have experience piloting mobile suits and I have a job for you. ZAFT recently completed a second CGUE DEEP Arms unit in Australia, apparently the purpose of this one is to test it's feasibility as a mass produced unit. Your mission is to spy on ZAFT and find out what they've leaned from our technology, then after acquiring that information, you are to steal their DEEP Arms."

"How am I supposed to do that sir?"

"You won't be going in alone, some of our hackers broke into ZAFT's computer networks and we'll be inserting you with a special ops team posing as a maintenance crew. To pilot the DEEP Arms you'll need this." He slid a small hard drive across the desk to the Lieutenant. "Plug this into the DEEP Arms' computer and it will automatically re-write the AI so it's controls would be similar to our Daggers."

"When do I leave sir?"

"Three days from now…"

XXX

Lieutenant Vincent Fallynna lied in his bed playing with the special flash drive, Commander Irons had given him. Vincent, age 20, was one of the first of the Earth Alliance's mobile suit pilots. The Earth Alliance had lagged behind ZAFT in terms of technology, but now the two were more on less on equal footing. He sat there thinking for awhile why he got peg for this job, _I'm one of their few mobile suit aces, hell I've got 20 kills to my record already, and the Strike Dagger isn't even in mass production yet. I'd more useful at the front, besides I've never been on a spy mission…_ Then the answer hit him, the Alliance had few experience mobile suit pilots and he had already racked up and impressive kill score. _I get it now, I'm not really supposed to do any of they spying, that's their job, I just tag along and when the time is right jack the DEEP Arms right beneath their noses. This is going to be an adventure…_

Vincent flipped the flash drive into the air with his thumb like a coin and caught it.

The next morning he met with the commando team he would be working with. The mission was scheduled to last somewhere between a month and a month and a half. He was eager to prove himself with this team, he didn't want to just be someone they were babysitting, his role in the team was the vehicle specialist.

"Hmm, now I see why they placed you with our team…" Captain Ash Kurosawa said reading though the evaluation Vincent gave him. _We just started using the Strike Daggers, come to think about it, the Daggers are still in the evaluation stage, and already this kid's racked up twenty confirmed kills, including two commander use CGUEs. _Ash flipped though another classified personnel report he had. _Looks like they also intend on letting the kid keep the DEEP Arms. Just like those bastards to just have him steal a new suit instead of assign him one of the 105 Daggers. _"Well Lieutenant, I must say I'm quite impressed with your record, twenty confirmed kills in just a few weeks. Won't be long till you surpass even the Hawk of Endymion."

"Thank-you sir, but…uh I wouldn't go that far." Vincent said trying to stay modest. The Hawk of Endymion, a.k.a Mwu La Fllaga, was currently stationed aboard the battleship _Archangel_. Lieutenant Commander La Fllaga piloted a Mobius Zero mobile armor and was easily one of the Alliance's top aces.

"No need to be so modest Lieutenant, it's still very impressive that you've taken out twenty enemy suits in only five combat sorties in a unit that hasn't even passed the evaluation phase. But on the other hand it's good not to let things get to your head." _I wonder… could this kid be one of those "Newtypes"…? _"Have you ever piloted a Mobius Zero?"

"Yes I have, but I had a very difficult time using the Gunbarrels. It took a while to get used to them but after a while I was able to get some use with them and took out a few target drones."

_Hmm, that didn't get me anywhere… _"Well then Lieutenant, that is all then, go ahead and meet the rest of the team." Ash said.

Vincent saluted and went on his way after Ash returned the salute.

_I can't help the feeling those higher ups have something planned for this kid aside from this mobile suit theft job. Twenty kills in only five combat sorties. Either those Strike Daggers are really that good or there's more to this kid than just raw talent… _

"So you're the new vehicle specialist, huh?" Lieutenant Andre Velasquez said leaning back in his chair in a rather carefree manner. Andre was the team's weapons and explosives specialist.

"Hmm you look kind of cute." Lieutenant Sylvia Bennet said playfully. She was the team's communication and electronics expert.

Vincent plopped himself down on a chair across from then in the officer's lounge with a drink. "So what have you guys been doing during the war?" he asked.

XXX

Sashenka Timoshenko looked over at the partially completed DEEP Arms in the back of the hangar. She couldn't say she was against ZAFT's actions, they did need to defend themselves. Despite that, she didn't agree at all with Patrick Zala's genocidal agenda. _That lunatic is just as bad as that Blue Cosmos group that's got the Alliance wrapped around it's dick like an ill-fitting condom. _She took a deep breath and look down at a picture sitting by her computer, it was a picture of her and Lacus Clyne. She was standing back to back with Lacus, she was holding a beautiful black rose while Lacus held her favorite pink haro. Though she was a few years older she and Lacus had grown up together. Her father was good friends with Siegel Clyne and had shared Clyne's more moderate and peaceful approach to ending the war. This was the second CGUE DEEP Arms unit ZAFT had constructed, the DEEP Arms was a test bed unit to test out the technologies ZAFT acquired from the stolen Alliance Gundams. Honestly the technology they found was quite scary, she had hoped that ZAFT would be able to hold out against the Alliance onslaught and use their superior technology as a bargaining chip for an armistice. Those five suits changed all that. _If the Alliance could come up with that on their first try…_

Sashenka was a civilian engineer at ZAFT's Carpentaria Base in Australia, though it wasn't long till they would transfer to a secret island facility south of Orb.

"Have you heard…?" Richard Kramer, another of the DEEP Arms' technician said as he offered her a drink.

"Heard what…?" she asked accepting the drink.

"The Alliance is just about done developing their own mass production mobile suit, based on the Strike Gundam. It's still in the evaluation stage but it's just about ready for mass production. And here's the kicker, they've already got a few aces already, one of them is real monster, twenty kills in five sorties."

"What! Twenty kills in five missions? How?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure if he's an exceptional pilot or of their new suits are really that good. We know those suits are better than our GINNs. Our pilots have started calling him the Azure Phantom."

"Why that name?" Sashenka asked.

"Probably because these new suits have a blue on bluish-white paint job. He looks like all the other suits but he has the numbers zero eight on his shoulder, plus a stylized OMNI emblem on the other shoulder. Right now we're only able to hold the line because our technology far surpasses the Alliance's. But Mr. Arms over there, proves that those damn Naturals are catching up, and fast. I just hope they don't have anymore Azure Phantoms out there." Richard explained.

"Great… things just get better and better…" Sashenka signed.

Sashenka returned back to her quarters after her shift had ended. She decided to lie down for a few minutes and let her mind shut off. _Hmm, maybe I'll write Lacus a letter…_ She let her thoughts drift a little and she started wondering about this Azure Phantom. She had met some of ZAFT's aces including Raww Le Kluze and Miguel Aiman. She wondered what the aces of the Alliance were like, were they monsters like Patrick Zala and Blue Cosmos, or were they honorable people fighting to protect those close to them like Miguel Aiman?

XXX

Vincent looked out the window of their stolen ZAFT VoLPHAU transport plane. The Alliance had hacked the base's computers and put a shipment of GINNs and technicians in the list of arriving transports and equipment. Apparent the team had been training for this for a while, and he was a sort of last minute addition. His job was as a maintenance technician for the DEEP Arms, that way he could get a feel for the suit before he was to steal it in about a month. His job was to steal the DEEP Arms once it was completed, and with that suit escort out the rest of the team either on a ship or aircraft.

Out the window he could see the bustling Carpentaria Base, a major thorn in the side of the Alliance in the Pacific region, there were GINNs and patrol and he could see Vosgulov-class attack submarines in the docks and various other ships. _I could level this place by myself if I had my Dagger here they're relying on mostly GINNs and DINNs here, and I eat GINNs for dinner…_

"Well Lieutenant, there's our new home…" Commander Nadia Ceres the team's second in command, said next to Vincent, looking out the window. She looked over a Vincent's face and laughed slightly.

"What…?"

"That look in your eyes, you've got that look a hunter has when he sees his prey but doesn't have his equipment to pursue it. You wish you had your Dagger here don't you?" She said.

"…I was just thinking I could put this place out of commission if I did. All they have here are GINNs and DINNs, hardly a match for the Strike Dagger." He explained.

"Don't worry, you'll have you chance to satisfy that blood lust,"

"Blood lust! Look let's get something straight, don't confuse me for one those psychopath Blue Cosmos people. I'm not out to kill Coordinators ok." Vincent snapped back.

"Ok Ok, I take the blood lust remark back, geez…" Nadia said backing off. "I just thought, because…

"Because I was chosen as one of the pilots to evaluate the Strike Dagger I was affiliated with Blue Cosmos?" Vincent finished for her.

"Well, yeah, I mean everyone knows several of the High Command people are friendly towards if not part of Blue Cosmos. There's even that rumor going around that Blue Cosmos is building three new Gundams for the Alliance" She said.

"No I was chosen because I had three confirmed kills with my Mobius and I've outlived almost everyone I've flown with. They figured if I survived that long in one of those death-traps I must be a pretty damn good pilot." Vincent quietly said.

Nadia caught just a hint of a hidden sadness in Vincent's eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that." She simply said.

"Don't worry about it…"

Vincent hated Blue Cosmos, he hated their self righteous mentality and hated how they felt they were the ones to decide how the world will turn. He also hated ZAFT leader Patrick Zala for the same reasons. He didn't hate Coordinators unlike a good portion of the Alliance did, in fact he had family that were Coordinators, his Godmother, his mother's adopted sister, was Eileen Canaver a member of the PLANT Council. He used to get letters from her but since Patrick Zala became Chairman he rarely heard from her. He had actually spent time on PLANT as a child, spending his summers at Eileen's home. He even met and had dinner with Siegel Clyne and his daughter Lacus on one occasion. The reason he had joined the Alliance was to protect Earth from Zala and he was more than willing to help Siegel if he ever needed an Alliance insider to help end the war.

The plane landed and they made it though the security with no problem, thanks to their flawless fake IDs. An officer came up to the group and greeted then, after the usual formalities he took them on a tour of the base. _Man this guy is fucking clueless, he's basically telling a team of Alliance commandos and a mobile suit thief where everything is…_ Vincent thought to himself. Still he was fairly absorbed in what the officer was telling him, when he came across and open hangar and felt dumbstruck by what was inside _DUEL!_ The Duel Gundam, one of the four Gundams stolen by ZAFT and the only on still in their possession. The Blitz was destroyed in a battle a while ago, it was revealed that the Aegis and the Alliance's Strike were lost in battle a few weeks ago, and Buster had been recovered at that same battle. He was totally engrossed with the Duel and wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone.

"You idiot watch where you're going!" Shouted Yzak Jule, the foul tempered and impulsive pilot of the Duel Gundam.

"Ah, my apologies sir." Vincent said snapping a salute the moment he saw Yzak's red uniform.

Yzak looked him over, the anger in his eyes turning to irritation as he returned the salute. "Look at you, how can you call yourself a soldier of ZAFT." Yzak said as he straightened out Vincent's green ZAFT uniform he buttoned up the first two buttons which Vincent left undone and rolled the sleeves Vincent had rolled up his forearms, down. "Don't let me catch you looking like that again, you're dismissed." Yzak said.

"Yes sir" Vincent said saluting and he ran off to catch up to the others. _Geez what the fuck crawled up his ass and died…_ Vincent continued along with the others on the tour of the base,_ this guy should be a tour guide when this war is over…_ when he noticed a rather attracting looking girl standing by one of the hangars. He so interested in that girl he almost missed the fact that was the DEEP Arms hangar he was standing in front of.

XXX

Sashenka was standing just outside the hangar talking to Richard and drinking an iced tea. _Damn it's hot today…_ when she noticed a young officer in a standard green uniform looking at her, she caught his eye and once she did, he look away, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face and a slight blush in his cheeks. Sahenka smiled and laughed. _That was cute…_

"What?" Richard asked, slightly confused.

"Nothing, I just saw one of those new comers over there looking at me and when I caught him he did something cute, that's all." She explained. "Come on lets get back to work." Throughout the day she couldn't get the young officer out of her mind and hoped to run into him again.

XXX

The tour ended and they were shown their quarters. They each had their own mobile home like quarters in the interior of the base. All Vincent had to remember was the area by the DEEP Arms hangar. He was grateful they didn't have to report of duty till the next day, it was a long flight and he was fairly wiped out. _I wonder who that girl was… she was pretty cute…_ He put on one of Lacus Clyne's CDs before dropping dead on his bed. Her music could be fairly hard to get on Earth, so he picked up a CD when ever he had a chance. He didn't care if she was a Coordinator or not, living on PLANT or not, he still liked her songs.

He reported for duty the next day along with the others and he was assigned as one of the maintenance people for the DEEP Arms, the others were assigned various jobs but his was the only one in the DEEP Arms hangar. He was sitting in a corner looking over the manuals they gave him, _Hmm, mostly crap on mechanics, I had to learn all this shit before they gave me my Dagger…Nothing new…_ when someone spoke up to his left.

XXX

Sashenka decided to stretch and take a walk around the hangar. It was a warm day and she felt more like lying out on the beach in a bikini with a pina colada than sitting around in a hangar. She was walking near the DEEP Arms when she noticed a familiar young maintenance technician sitting in a corner flipping though a stack of manuals. _Hey, it's that guy from yesterday… _She decided to approach him and say hello.

She made her way thought the maze of wires and conduits to the corner where the box he was sitting on was. "Hey there." she casually said. He looked up from his manuals with a look that he wasn't sure if someone was talking to him. "Yeah you, how you doing?"

"Alright, just getting used to the way things ran around here." he said stretching.

"You look like you could take a break, want to grab something cold to drink?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah sure, sounds good." she said.

There was a small juice bar not far from the hangar and the two of them got themselves a drink and taken a seat at a table with an umbrella. "So where did you come from?" She asked.

"Ah I've been all over, I've kind of been bounced from one base to another for some reason, I didn't do anything bad so don't think I'm some delinquent worker." Vincent said taking a sip from his strawberry banana smoothie.

Sashenka let out a small laugh, "No I wasn't thinking that. What I meant was what part of PLANT, were you from."

"September…" _Well I practically did live there for a few months at a time with Auntie Eileen, so I'm not exactly lying to her…_ "September City, I lived there for a while with my godmother. What about you?"

"I'm actually from here, I was born in Canberra, my parents decided to say here when they found out the Oceania Union was siding with PLANT. But I grew up in PLANT with my aunt and uncle, my parents sent me there because they feared the Alliance would invade." She replied taking a sip from her non-alcoholic pina colada. "I thought it was cute, the way you were looking at me and the way you were blushing yesterday." she said with a smile.

"Ummm…" Vincent said blushing again. This made Sashenka laugh and in turn made him laugh.

"I think it's cute when guys get all shy like that." She said.

XXX

It had been about week and Vincent and Sashenka were growing closer. He hadn't seen much of the team, they all agreed before the mission that meeting up frequently or regularly could arouse suspicion, so they usually kept apart from each other unless they had something to say. The DEEP Arms was still a few weeks from completion meaning Vincent would be there for just a little while longer still, he was starting to realize he was getting a little too close to Sashenka and this could bite him in the ass. Sashenka had asked him out to dinner, his heart won out.

He and Sashenka had gone to a somewhat fancy restaurant in the town a few miles from the base. "So what do you think about this war, just this whole thing?" Vincent asked. Taking a piece of calamari from their appetizer tray.

"What I really think? I think this whole thing is stupid. There's really no reason we should be fighting with the Naturals, most of the ones I've met are very good people. This is what happens when you let two powerful nut jobs go have at it with each other." She said take a piece of calamari for herself.

"Nut jobs, you mean Chairman Zala and Blue Cosmos?"

Sashenka nodded. "Personally I support Councilor Clyne's policies, I actually grew up with Lacus."

"Really! You grew-up with Lacus?" Vincent said, almost chocking on his calamari.

"Yeah, I swear she is just the sweetest thing… Oh thank you." She said as the waiter delivered their main courses. Sashenka had ordered a veal and pasta dish while Vincent had baby-back ribs.

"I really like her songs, I met her once when we were kids. My godmother…" Vincent almost said Eileen's name but decided against it. He knew his Aunt tried to keep the fact they were related secret to protect both of them. "…is well acquainted with Councilor Clyne and we had gone out to dinner with his family. I ended up sitting next to Lacus. I remember she got a real laugh when I took my godmother's empty lobster shell and used it as a puppet."

"You know, I remember her telling me about that. She had to do to some dinner with her dad, she thought it was going to be boring but ended meeting this guy who made it a bit fun, I remember she said something about using a lobster as a puppet."

"Yeah, Lacus was always a sweetheart." Vincent said, as he tore apart the first rack and started eating. The two of them continued their meal talking about this and that. Apparently the two had a lot in common and shared many of the same interests.

After dinner Sashenka asked if they could hang out at her quarters for awhile. Vincent wasn't dense and had an idea where this could go, but once again his heart won out. _It's not like I have anything incriminating on me, the Captain has everything that could get us busted. _The sat in the sitting area chatting for awhile, Sashenka had taken out a bottle of wine she had gotten a hold of a few days ago, the window was open and the night air felt good. Sashenka noticed Vincent rubbing at his shoulder a bit. "Shoulder sore?"

"Yeah a little..." Vincent said.

"Here let me try something." Sashenka said, as she made her way behind the chair Vincent was sitting on. She undid the buttons of his dress shirt from behind and slid the shirt down. She started massaging his shoulders.

"Ahhh, that feels nice…"

"Harder or softer." she asked.

"A little harder would be nice." he said.

"You know, it would feel better if you had some lotion and took your shirt off." She demurely said.

She walked to her purse as Vincent took his dress and undershirt off. She rubbed the lotion over his bare shoulders and started massaging. After a while Sashenka stopped, "ok my arms are tired now." She said.

"Wow, that felt really good. I feel inclined to return the favor." Vincent said getting up.

"No that's ok, I'm fine."

"No really, I'd like to do something just as nice for you, come on." Vincent said as he lead her to her bedroom.

Sashenka followed him into the room, he asked her to take her shirt off and lie face down on the bed. She was lying on the bed and she felt him unhook her bra and she pulled it out from under her and flung it over the side of the bed. He rubbed the lotion over he back and began massaging her back.

"Hmm, that feels good, you're doing a good job."

"Thanks, I've had a little practice in the past."

After a while Sashenka spoke up again. "Could you massage my legs too, you can take my skirt off." And Vincent did as she asked and massaged her legs for a while. When his arms grew tired he just let his fingers lightly run across her back. Sashenka rolled over on to her back and took is hand into hers and kissed it. He looked into her eyes and she hook her arm around his neck and drew him to her and kissed him.

Vincent let Sashenka pull him towards her and felt her lips on his and immediately returned the kiss. While they kissed he felt her take his hand and slide it over he bare breast, across her belly, and down between her legs. And they spent that night in each other's arms.

The next morning as Vincent was about to walk though the door, Sashenka called him back in. "Hey I want to give you something." She said as she walked back into her room from the living room, wearing only a satin robe. She came back with a black rose. "Here I know it's fake but I want you to have this. Just a little something from me." She said with a smile.

"A black rose?" Vincent asked, not really sure what to make of it.

"Yeah, it's my favorite flower, I wish I had a real one, but, you know…" she said as took his hand and placed the rose in it and closed his fingers around it, then she brought it to her lips and kissed his closed fingers.

"OK I'll take care of it." He said with a smile. "Hey, it smells nice."

"Yeah, I sprayed a little of my favorite perfume on it."

XXX

The days went by and the DEEP Arms was nearing completion, with his part in the construction, Vincent knew that suit inside and out. And his relationship and love affair with Sashenka also grew. During one of the few nights the team met up together they discussed how they would escape with the DEEP Arms.

"I suggest we take a speed boat out of here to rendezvous with the carrier, they don't really have anything fast on the water, and if we took a plane they'd have DINNs all over us." Sylvia suggested "I mean, not say you can't protect us with the DEEP Arms, but you know…" She added looking at Vincent.

"It's alright, this plan sounds good to me. You're right, even with the DEEP Arms there's only so many I can engage at once." Vincent said. "So how are we going to do this whole escape?" He asked.

"Well, while you're doing what you need to do to get the DEEP Arms, we're going to be putting some explosive charges at some key facilities. Then we jack a boat and you fly cover for us." Ash explained. "Oh I thought you might need one, there's a hangar near the docks, where they have Guuls stored." He added.

The Guul was a sort of flying sled that gave mobile suits full flight capabilities. DINNs didn't need these units but it certainly came in handy if the pilot used a GINN or CGUE.

"Yeah one of those would definably come in handy, especially if DINNs are going to be after us." Vincent replied.

They continued to discuss parts of their plan and at the end they each went to their separate quarters, on his way out Ash pulled Vincent aside.

"I've noticed you've been getting pretty close with that technician girl." He said

Vincent remained silent, he really didn't know what to say.

"It's not exactly your fault, you haven't had the sort of mental conditioning we've had, you're an ace mobile suit pilot not a spy. All I can tell you now is don't get in too deep, don't forget who and what you are _Lieutenant_."

"Yes sir, I understand."

"Just do your part and it'll all be fine we're almost done here."

Vincent made his way back to his quarters and found Sashenka knocking on his door. "I'm over here Sash." He called.

"Hey!" she said, and ran to him and hugged him. "I was able to get some nice red wine, I wanted to drink some with you."

"Ahh, I don't know if it's a good idea…"

Sashenka looked into his eyes and knew something was bothering him. "What is, what's wrong?"

"…Nothing, I'm just tried…" he said trailing off.

"I see then, I'll go then." She turned and started to walk away.

"Sash…" Vincent called out.

"Vince, I don't think we should continue this if you're going to lie to me… I know you too well, I can tell when you're hiding something…" She said with just a touch of pain in her eyes.

"Look lets go inside and we'll talk."

"Ok…"

The two of them entered Virgil's quarters and they sat down at one of his couch. "So what is it, what's bothering you?" Sashenka asked.

"A lot, this war, it's making me do a lot of things I really don't want to…" Vincent started. _At least I'm not lying to her, I don't want to lie to her but I can't give myself away…_

"War does that, I'm not all that happy with myself either. I've also done things I'm not proud off, but we have to do what we need to do." Sashenka explained. "I wish… I wish we didn't have people like Blue Cosmos and Patrick Zala."

"Sash, I'm afraid… I'm afraid I might have to go far away from you…" Vincent said and Sashenka moved closer to him and put her arms around him and leaned against him. "Then hold me, hold me and stay with me while you're still here."

"Sure…" Vincent said holding onto Sashenka.

"I love you Vincent."

"I… I love you too, Sashenka." Sashenka leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. He let her push him onto his back and they were both lying on the couch. He felt her hand move down between his legs and he unbuttoned her shirt. "Let me be with you." Sashenka whispered.

"You can be with me as long as you want." He whispered and the two spent the night with each other again.

Vincent was lying in bed where he and Sashenka had ended moving to when they decided the couch was too small for them (they fell off). The had just finished making love and Sashenka was lying on his shoulder and he was running his arm up and down her smooth belly. He didn't know why, but some of his memories decided to haunt him, wingmen he lost piloting his mobile armor, people he's seen die, friends he lost. "Sash…"

"Yeah," she said.

"Come with me, let go to Orb and get away from this stupid war." He said.

"Orb… but what about ZAFT and PLANT?" Sashenka asked.

"Lets leave it all behind, let's just leave this stupid war behind. I've lost so many people in this war, I just want to get away from all of it. And… I want you to be with me. I want to start a new life and I want the one I love to be with me." As he said that, in the back of his mind he saw people he knew die, die for no reason, die because a bunch jack-asses decided their will was the absolute right. _I'm tiered of being your pawn Blue Cosmos._ And just for a bit, he let himself imagine a life with Sashenka in neutral Orb.

"How will we get to Orb?"

"Leave that to me, I'll figure it out. Will you come with me?"

"Yes…yes I will, my love." Sashenka said and she lied down on top of him and kissed him. The two of them made love the second time that night.

XXX

The DEEP Arms was just days away from completion and Vincent went over his plan again. He would steal the DEEP Arms and cover the team like was planed. But the next day, he would steal the DEEP Arms from the Alliance and break into Carpentaria to pick up Sashenka and they would flee to Orb together.

"What the fuck is all this shit!" Richard said looking dumbfounded at the monitors.

"Eh, what is it?" Vincent said looking up from his work station.

"Operation Split-Break…" Richard said trailing off.

"What about it… What the hell!" Vincent said as he looked over the monitors. Operation Split-Break was ZAFT's major assault on the Alliance's mass driver on Panama. Or that's what Patrick Zala told everyone anyway. ZAFT's forces had attacked the Alliance's general headquarters at Alaska and the attack ended in a massive failure. From what Vincent was getting from the reports, the Alliance abandoned the base and set a trap for them and installed a Cyclopes Microwave Array beneath the base and ZAFT lost over 80 of it's attacking force. While the Alliance lost an entire Eurasian fleet and possibly even the battleship Archangel.

_More people, more people have died, why do so many people have to die for nothing! _Vincent angrily thought. What angered him even more was that this wasn't the first time the Alliance did this, he was on the Grimaldi front at Endymion Base on the Moon when the Alliance first deployed a Cyclopes. He was almost killed by that array. If Lieutenant Commander Mwu La Fllaga hadn't fired his harpoon cable into Vincent's Mobius and pulled him away, he would have gotten caught up in the blast "I can't believe they did it again, they fucking did it again. What the fuck is wrong with these people!"

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

"Don't you remember. On the Grimaldi front, on the Moon, they deployed one of those things and wiped out almost all our Moon forces with it." Vincent explained.

"Wait, that was the same thing they used on us there? But that thing wiped out one of their own fleets!"

"Yeah, now you see what we're dealing with here. Blue Cosmos isn't stopping at anything to get their way."

"That's why we need to go with Patrick Zala." Richard responded.

"Are you fucking retarded? Are you fucking high? He's just like them, he'd do the same thing. You think what he's doing is right!"

"Oh I see, you're one of Clyne's supporters aren't you. If Clyne had his way PLANT would have nukes coming at it every day! We need Patrick Zala's leadership, we need his strategy to teach these stupid Naturals not to mess with us."

"Stupid Naturals? Yeah they must be dumb as fuck if we're ripping off their technology." Vincent said pointing to the DEEP Arms. Suddenly Vincent had a strange feeling and he immediately ducked. As he did a wrench swung by where his shoulders would have been. As he was crouched he spun around and lunged forward burying his shoulder into the stomach of the mechanic who swung the wrench at him, knocking the wind out of him.

"Alright that's enough!" Shouted a voice from the door of the hangar and all three of them found an officer standing there with Captain's insignias. "Now cool it, all three of you. I don't give a fuck if you support Councilor Clyne or Chairman Zala. You're all soldiers of ZAFT act like it!"

"Yes sir!" the three saluted.

"I catch you idiots fighting like that again, all three of you are spending a week in the brig and getting docked a month's pay. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!"

The three of them went back to their jobs but Vincent couldn't help but think. _What just happened, what was that. I was like I could predict that guy was going to hit me…_

Later that night Vincent was having a casual dinner with Sashenka outside in the town. "I heard you a got into a fight with Richard and some other tech?"

"Yeah, we started yelling at each other over Patrick Zala, then some guy came up behind me and tried to hit me with a wrench, I was able to take him down before he could though. But lets not talk about that, I just want to enjoy my dinner and your company." Vincent tiredly said.

"OK"

XXX

"Well that certainly is a beautiful sight." Vincent said looking up at the completed DEEP Arms.

"Sure is, just glad to finally be done with the whole thing." Sashenka said next to him.

Later that night Vincent met with the members of the team. "So it's all going down tonight then?"

"That's right Lieutenant, is everything all setup on your end?" Ash asked.

"Yes, it is, all I need to do is install the OS, which will probably take a few minutes."

The other reported that they were ready to go too.

"Alright then, we'll start at 2200."

Vincent sighed as he left Ash's quarters, and he headed for his place, hoping he wouldn't run into Sashenka. He made it back to his place without seeing her. He went to his computer and started wringing out a letter to Sashenka.

_Dearest Sashenka_

_I'm sorry but I haven't been fully honest with you. I am not a member of ZAFT, I was sent here by the Earth Alliance to steal the DEEP Arms and deliver it to them. However all my feelings for you, all the kind things I've said to you, were sincere. I wouldn't take the time to write this if I wasn't. But please don't think of me as one of those fanatics, I was true to you on my stance on this war. I will not deliver the DEEP Arms to them, please trust me. I still want to go to Orb with you. I still want you at my side. I may be gone for a few days but I promise you, I will come back and we can go to Orb when I return. Please wait for me and believe me when I say, I love you. _

_Love_

_Lieutenant Vincent Fallynna_

Vincent printed out the letter and got everything in order. He had a small meal and headed for Sashenka's quarters. It was quite dark with no Moon out and he dropped the letter though the mail slot at her door and headed towards the hangar. His keycard got him in with no trouble and scanning the hangar he saw no guards and made his way to the DEEP Arms and into the cockpit. He booted up the system and saw the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty emblem on a small screen next to the pilot's seat. He plugged in the flash drive and loading bar appeared on the screen, it took a few minutes for the bar to fill up, when it did the screen went blank for a second before it flickered back on. The ZAFT emblem was replaced with the words Oppose Militant and Neutralize Invasion Force, OMNI the Earth Alliance military, behind it was the blue emblem of the Earth Alliance.

_Now the controls should be almost identical to the Strike Dagger._ He maneuvered the DEEP Arms forward and blasted a hole in the wall of the hangar, and walked out the hole. On his monitors he saw several of the night guards going ape shit and then an alert was sounded. The explosion was the signal for the rest of the team, Vincent made his way to the Guul storage hangar and saw a speed boat take off, someone threw a red flare overboard indicating that it was indeed the team. He broke into the Guul hangar and commandeered one of the support vehicles, once he was in the air he saw several DINNs fly in in support.

Sashenka woke up to the alert and a phone call. "Is the Alliance attacking?" she asked into the phone.

"No someone stole the DEEP Arms, we sent some DINNs in pursuit but we're holding back, base commander's not sure if the Naturals will attack." Richard answered.

"Have you gotten a hold of Vincent?" She frantically asked.

"No I haven't tried yet."

"I'm heading over to his place to see if he's alright then."

"Be careful Sashenka, we don't know if there are any Naturals still around here." Richard cautioned.

Sashenka got dressed and made sure she had her 12mm pistol with her she was ready to go but she stopped at her door. _When did that envelope get there…?_ She picked up the envelope and saw it was from Vincent. She immediately opened the letter and carefully read it. Afterwards she didn't know how to feel. _Vincent was an Alliance soldier, but how did he steal the DEEP Arms if he was a Natural?_ She heard gunfire outside and looked out the window. She saw the DEEP Arms on a Guul taking on several DINNs.

She ran outside to see a better view of the fight. There were several others gathered around, watching it. "I don't know if I should be proud or what? I mean the guy is taking on multiple opponents in the DEEP Arms, but on the other hand it's some damned Alliance pilot in that suit." Said one of the DEEP Arms techs standing next to her. "Like hell if I'm going up there against him, I've seen that style before." a ZAFT pilot said next to her. "That guy in the DEEP Arms, that's got to be the Azure Phantom. "

"What was that!" Sashenka asked, startled.

"I've seen that style of fighting before, I can't be positive but I'm almost certain who ever just stole the DEEP Arms is the Azure Phantom. Just look at the way he's fighting…"

Sashenka looked up. The DEEP Arms danced his unit around in the air, shooting down DINNs left and right like it was some turkey shoot. But what she noticed was that he had this uncanny ability to almost predict when a enemy was going to shoot at him. It was almost impossible for the DINNs to hit him. _Newtype…_ Sashenka heard that term used before, before the war broke out there were some reports and essays written on the existence of more evolved humans. Some sort of "Super Natural" that had a sort of telepathic ability and unbelievable reaction time. But of course there was no one who was a confirmed Newtype, _But the way he's fighting, I know the DEEP Arms isn't that good of a suit…_

She watched as Vincent fought the last DINN, this one was in the silver paint job of a commander. The Commander was dodging Vincent's shots and seemed to be concentrating on trying to shoot Vincent's Guul out from under him. Vincent evaded the DINN's shots to keep the Guul from getting shot but in the process the Commander took advantage of a split-second opportunity and shot the DEEP Arms' head off with it's shotgun. But Vincent took advantage of the recoil of the shotgun that left the DINN momentarily stunned to send a dual blast to light from the DEEP Arms' shoulder beam cannons and blew the DINN apart. Even as the DINN's wreak fell back to Earth, she saw the DEEP Arms' turn and fly off. _Vincent…_ Just then she heard several explosive charges go off.

XXX

"Congratulations everyone, well done." Commander Irons said. "I'm sure those damned Coordinators are wondering how the "inferior" Naturals were able to pull this off on them." He laughed. "Well I'm sure you've all heard that we lost our Alaska headquarters to those bastards, they deployed some new weapon and wiped our base out. Good thing most of the High Command has evacuated before they set if off."

_I don't know if he's lying to me or if he's being lied to and doesn't know any better… _Vincent thought.

"Well that's not all…" Irons added. Those bastards have also taken out our Panama Base, but not to worry, our forces are poised to retake Victoria, with our new Strike Daggers in the lead."

"Strike Daggers? They're operational?" Nadia asked

"That's right, we put them into mass production about two weeks ago."

"Sir, a suggestion if I may?" Vincent said raising his hand.

"Go ahead Lieutenant."

"Sir I suggest that we should raid Carpentaria, while our forces attack Victoria. I can take my DEEP Arms and send some Daggers with me. I'm sure we could give them a hard time."

"Let's not get a head of ourselves Lieutenant, your unit still needs a new head. It'll probably take about three days to get it replaced."

"Oh about that sir, I'd like a customized head for that, so it stands out more from the ZAFT CGUEs and a new paint job."

"Sounds reasonable enough, and I'll authorize the raid when your new CGUE is repaired. In the mean time get some rest all of you, you deserve it."

For the next few days Vincent mostly kept to himself, while they repaired his DEEP Arms. It received a new head, it was shaped similar to the helmet of a Roman Legionnaire, and had a stylish crest. The face was similar to a Gundam's only instead of two "eyes" it had a single visor. It's cobalt blue paint job was replaced by a midnight blue on bluish white paint scheme his Strike Dagger had.

Sashenka for the most part was in a sort of confused daze. No one had known about their affair so no one bothered to interrogate her. She just tried to concentrate on work until the third day came, Carpentaria was raided by a Alliance mobile suits.

The Alliance decided to raid Carpentaria to throw the base off balance to keep them from sending reinforcement to the Victoria Mass driver in eastern Africa, and to unbalance them in preparation for Operation 8.8 the Alliance assault on Capentaria. Vincent started up DEEP Arms' system and all read green. He held up Sashenka's black rose and gazed at it for a moment before he smelled it and savored the fragrance of Sashenka's perfume as it filled his nose, then he placed it in between some panels in the cockpit. Unlike a lot of pilots Vincent preferred not to wear a pilot's helmet and instead wore a tank crewman's helmet when he fought on Earth.

"Lieutenant Fallynna, CGUE DEEP Arms, launching." he reported as his DEEP Arms and Guul launched from the Alliance carrier _Chester Nimitz. Hopefully she's still at that hangar…_ He thought as he shot off towards the base. He flew over the Strike Daggers that were landing at the base's docks. As they landed he saw several GINNs move to engage them. He wasn't worried about the GINNs, he was looking for the DINNs, the would be able to cause problems for the Daggers from the sky.

He was scanning the area when he felt that sense of danger again and maneuver red his Guul to the left and saw a shogun blast shoot though where he had been. _This feeling… There…_ He found three DINNs flying up to meet him. They fired on him with their machine guns and he effortlessly dodged their bullets. He fired back with his M703 57mm beam rifle, decapitating on of the DINNs, and nailing a bull's-eye on the cockpit of another. The beam, as hot as the heart of a star, lanced though the DINN instantly incinerating the pilot. The DEEP Arms had been modified with a Strike Dagger's right hand to allow it to use the Dagger's beam rifle. The third DINN maneuvered behind him and fired, though before the blast hit him he had another reaction and dodged the shotgun blast, and at the same time he swivel the left shoulder beam gun and fired, hitting the DINN square in the chest, immolating the pilot.

_Get out of my way!_ He thought as more DINNs came to engage him. One got a lucky shot and destroyed his rifle. Vincent drew his large anti-ship sword and dashed forward. The DINNs fired but he used the sword to deflect their bullets like some Hong Kong Kung-Fu flick. He moved in close and sliced a DINN in half and quickly spun around at the waist and impaled another DINN and it's pilot, before he even took the sword completely out of the DINN he used the right shoulder cannon to blast the head, and right wing of the last DINN. He drew the sword from the chest of the DINN, the tip covered with the blood of the pilot. As the severely damaged DINN plummeted to Earth, he looked around for the hangar. _Ah there you are…_

Sashenka was in the DEEP Arms hangar working on an experimental GuAIZ that had been delivered the day before when the battle broke out. She and the rest of the research team had taken shelter in the hangar. She was hiding behind her work station when suddenly it seemed as if the hangar was being torn apart by a violent light. It took her a few moments to realize it was an anti-ship sword cutting a hole in the hangar._ OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!_

"THE DEEP ARMS!" Richard shouted. Sashenka looked up and saw it was indeed the DEEP Arms, but it looked different now, it had a new Roman looking head, and it was painted in a midnight blue on pale blue paint job, it had a stylish OMNI emblem and the numbers 08 on it's shoulders.

"AWW fuck no, I'm not fighting him!" The GuAIZ pilot shouted as he was about to enter his suit. "That's him, the Azure Phantom!" As he said that people ran out of the hangar as fast as their feet could carry them.

"Sashenka! Sashenka, are you here!" She heard the pilot saying though the DEEP Arms's speakers. She ran out into the open and called. "Vincent, I'm right here!" She shouted waiving her arms. The DEEP Arms crouched down and the cockpit opened as the right arm dropped down.

"Sashenka it's me!" Vincent called as he lowered the right arm to pick her up.

Richard was hiding behind some crates, when he saw Sashenka run out towards the DEEP Arms. _Sashenka! You've betrayed us!_ He looked around and saw an assault rifle sitting on a nearby table, without thinking he ran for the rifle. He scooped up the gun and assumed a shooter's position, stock against his shoulder, as he took cover behind the crates. He aimed for the cockpit and fired.

Vincent felt his heart jump as he saw Sashenka hop up on the DEEP Arms's hand and he raised her to the cockpit. But before she could crawl inside he saw her tense up and three blood red splotches appeared on her uniform, and she fell into the cockpit into his arms. "NO!" he shouted, he pulled her in and closed the cockpit.

Sashenka opened her eyes and looked into Vincent's. "You came… you came for me…" She weakly said.

"I did, just like I promised, please hang in there Sash, you'll be ok." Vincent said.

"I… I'm not going… to make it…" She said before coughing up a little blood.

"Yes you will, we're going to Orb, just like we promised!" Vincent said, trying to hold back the tears, knowing she was right.

"Vincent, kiss me… kiss me on last time…" Sashenka whispered.

Vincent held her tightly and leaned forward until his lips met hers. She broke off the kiss and weakly smiled as she reached up to touch his cheek. "I love you… I'll always be with you…" She whispered and she smiled before she closed her eyes for the last time.

"Sash… Sash!" Vincent said as he gently shook her but received no response. "No… you can't be gone…" He whispered. He looked up and noticed some of her blood had dripped onto the black rose, in the monitor behind the rose he saw a person running. It was Richard, and he had an assault rifle in his hand, he was running towards the GuAIZ. _You…_ Vincent darkly thought as he walked his mobile suit towards Richard. Richard stopped to find the DEEP Arms approaching him, but before he could take off running Vincent crushed him under the DEEP Arms' heel, leaving only a large bloody smear on the ground and on his foot that had once been Richard Kramer.

Vincent made his way to the Guul hangar and stole another unit and flew off. The fighting had mostly died down with the Strike Daggers pulling back before the GINNs could regroup. "Lieutenant, we've captured Victoria, we can pull back now." A voice said over the radio but he ignored it, as he set his heading for Orb. _We'll leave this pointless war behind Sashenka…_

"Lieutenant, where are you going! Lieutenant respond!" The voice continued. "Attention all forces, we have reason to believe Lieutenant Fallynna has gone AWOL, recover the CGUE DEEP Arms!" The voice ordered. Vincent wasn't too worried, the Strike Daggers had limited flight capabilities and were incompatible with the Guuls, they couldn't follow him. He looked down at Sashenka's face and ran his fingers though her hair. Then he looked up at his monitors to find three F-7D Spearhead fighters pursuing him. As the fighters closed in he spun around on the waist and fired his two shoulder cannons at the fighters, on blast took out one of the fighters while the second blast grazed and damaged another fighter.

The two fighters fired their missiles at him, though he was able to shoot some down and dodge the ones he couldn't. The undamaged fighter closed in strafing him with it's machineguns he positioned his suit in a baseball stance holding the anti-ship sword like a bat and as the Spearhead attempted to fly past him he swung. He would have hit a "homer" if he used the blunt end side of the sword but the beam blade sliced the fighter in half. The remaining damaged fighter flew off and returned to the carrier. Vincent let the fighter go, _Enough people have died as it is…_

Vincent had arrived at Orb around the same time as the battle scarred _Archangel_ did. He decided he would fight along side Orb and the Archangel. The first thing he did was give Sashenka a proper funeral and burial. He said his final good-bye to her and joined the Archangel and Orb in fighting against the Alliance invasion. He had the OMNI emblem painted over and replaced with a demon knight in blue armor, the Azure Phantom, standing before an elaborate background. The background was the Earth entwined with an hourglass (the shape of PLANT), with a black rose across it.

When Orb fell he left aboard the _Kusanagi_ and once again fought along side the Hawk of Endymion, Mwu La Fllaga, as well as along side the Three Ships Alliance against both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance in the final battle of the Bloody Valentine War. He fought heroically protecting the _Kusanagi _and _Eternal _against hordes of ZAFT and Alliance suits. Even as M1 Astrays were destroyed around him he stood his ground ensuring those ships would be safe.

Following Eileen Canaver's coup and the end of the battle, Vincent failed to return to the _Kusanagi. _He and his DEEP Arms disappeared towards the end of the battle and it was assumed that he was killed in action. Though occasionally rumors would surface of sightings of a CGUE with a Roman-style head around Orb. And occasionally people would see a man with a resemblance to Vincent visiting the home of Eileen Canaver, or the orphanage ran by Father Markio. Though no one knows for sure if Vincent Fallynna is alive or not, all anyone knows for sure is that someone always pours a glass of red wine and leaves black roses once a month on the grave of Sashenka Timoshenko at Orb.


End file.
